Frequently Asked Questions -- The Necronomicon Part I
Version 1.2
29 June 1993
compiled by Kendrick Kerwin Chua (kendrick+@CMU.EDU)
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
United States of America
-----------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents
= Introduction to Version 1.2
= Introduction to original version
= Frequently Asked Questions
(1) What is the Necronomicon?
(1a) Who is H.P. Lovecraft?
(2) Where can I get a copy of the Necronomicon?
1. The Necronomicon, edited by Simon
1a. The Necronomicon Spellbook, The Gates of the Necronomicon
2. The Necronomicon by Colin Wilson, edited by George Hay
3. Al Azif, the Owlswick Press Necronomicon
4. The Necronomicon by L. Sprague DeCamp or W.T. Faraday
(3) Who is/was Abdul Al-Hazred? Does he exist?
(4) Who or what is Cthulhu?
(5) What is a *Necromicon*? Shouldn't it be Necronomicon?
(6) Does thge Necronomicon really exist?
(7) What is the Voynich Manuscript?
(8) Where can I find more information?
= Appendix
(1) History of the Necronomicon, as rendered by H.P. Lovecraft
(2) An abridged Pantheon of Mythos, as given by Lovecraft and Simon
(3) Miscellaneous useful information about the Necronomicon
------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTRODUCTION TO VERSION 1.2
---------------------------
Revision time, boys and girls. The changes here are not major except
perhaps for the listing of one of the four Necronomicons that I have
given as relevant. It seems that the existence of the DeCamp version of
the Necronomicon is questionable, and in my decsription of the thing I
have confused it with the W.T. Faraday version of the book, which I did
not list. For right now, I am going to list the two together as a single
entity (because I believe that they are actually the same book) and
leave it at that until I am able to find better evidence, preferably the
books themselves.
Other than that, I have been able to fill in a few blanks in the
original FAQ, a table of contents, and I have added a third part as a
sort of appendix. This includes within it the complete text of
Lovecraft's fictional _History of the Necronomicon_, as well as a
Pantheon listing of the dieties which are common to Lovecraft and the
Simon Necronomicon. If you feel I have left anything out, or that I have
made an error, please don't hesitate to send me e-mail. Thanks go out to
Lupo the Butcher, who was a tremendous help with the original text and
in between revisions, as well as Josh Geller and Thyagi Nagashiva (who
is no longer listed as an alias of Aliester Crowley....)
KKC, 29 June 1993
INTRODUCTION
------------
I sometimes wonder why I have taken it upon myself to become a caretaker
of the argument over the "thing" called the Necronomicon. Not the black
paperback book, not the concept H.P. Lovecraft invented, and not the big
coloring book by H.R. Giger. I cannot bring myself to call it anything
but the "thing", because at present, the human race cannot come to a
consensus on what the Necronomicon is. People who claim that they are
skeptics, people who believe that they practice Magick, people who
believe that they are Satanists, and just about everyone else have
argued and argued with their voices and their e-mail accounts over the
what, why, where, who, how, and the when of the Necronomicon.
Most people who argue whatever viewpoint are reasonably knowledgable
about their subject, and are fairly expert in their particular angle of
entry into the subject of the Necronomicon. Science fiction and horror
fans who have something to say are well-read in their H.P. Lovecraft and
August Derleth. Pagans and Satanists who join in are reasonably
well-read in their LaVey and Crowley. Skeptics know their Colin Wilson
and their Sumerian mythology. And so, except for the big flamewar that
happens every six months or so, discussion is at best educational and
enlightening, but usually leads to no concrete conclusions or new ideas.
Aside from that problem, there are also newbies on Netnews and beyond
who may have seen a Lovecraft novel once or twice, dabbled in the
occult, or played a role playing game. Innocently asking what the
Necronomicon is, they become the butt of numerous jokes, get caught in
flamewars, and leave their questions mostly unanswered and their
information confused and incomplete. I know, because I was once in this
predicament. I have since taken the time to research, filled my disk
space with other peoples posts and flames, and created this FAQ for the
enlightenment of all.
If you have any comments to make, additions to contribute, or
corrections to offer, please e-mail me at . Thanks go
out to Thyagi Nagashiva, "Grendel" Al Billings, Colin Low, and Josh
Geller of netnews.alt.magick, SemHaza and Lupo from alt.satanism, Marc
Carlson, and Issac Truder. Also to anyone out there that helped whom I
may have forgotten.
Kendrick Kerwin Chua
22 March 1993
Servant of the Dark Lord, and keeper of the decade.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
--------------------------
[Note: Text within [brackets] indicate text which would normally be placed
in a footnote or a bibliography. However, since this FAQ is most likely
going to be read as a text file on some newsreader, footnotes are
unwieldly in the extreme. Therefore, all such information will be
bracketed and indented like so. Read them or ignore them. KKC]
(1) What is the Necronomicon?
A question not answered easily, quickly, or with any level of assurance.
If we may begin at what seems to be the beginning, we will also answer
the question:
(1a) Who is H.P. Lovecraft?
In the early 1900's, a man by the name of Howard Phillips Lovecraft
lived in New England and struggled with an unsuccessful career as a
writer. Living as a bachelor and a recluse most of his life, he tried
various occupations, journalism, literary criticism, and editing among
them. He finally came upon an enjoyable form of composition, writing
horror fiction. Like his hero, Edgar Allen Poe, Lovecraft dreamed of
creating worlds of wonder and mystery, and is credited with the creation
of the modern mystery format by his student, Robert Bloch, the author of
_Psycho_. While Lovecraft published much of his work, most notably in
the magazine "Weird Tales", he died with no critical acclaim, and little
recognition by the public. It was much later, after World War II and
into our decade, that Lovecraft began to receive the publicity that he
deserved as a literary figure. Lovecraft is now noted as the logical
successor to Poe, and served as the inspiration for many modern horror
authors, including Steven King.
[(1) Most information from Willis Conover's biography of Lovecraft
entitled _Lovecraft at Last_. Published by Carrollton-Clark in 1975 in
Arlington, Virginia. ISBN 0-915490-02-1. Conover was a publisher who
corresponded with Lovecraft during the height of his writing and
during his years of illness before he died. KKC]
What made Lovecraft's works different from other pulp fiction was his
method of "legitimizing" the stories he told. Devoid of gratuitous
splatter violence or adolescent foolishness, Lovecraft mixed ancient
mythology and occult literature by real authors with books and
theologies of his own devising. He did this so well that in many short
stories, one cannot tell the difference between the two without a
lifetime's knowledge of the subject. Take the story "The Rats in the
Walls", where Lovecraft creates a fictional family history from the
Magna Mater cult, or in "The Dunwich Horror", where Lovecraft freely
intermingles books like the Malleus Maleficarum with fictional titles
like the Book of Eibon or the Vermiis Mysterius.
[(2) This opinion is expounded upon by Robert Bloch in the
introduction to the Lovecraft anthology entitled _Bloodcurdling Tales
of Horror and the Macabre_. New edition published by Ballantine Books,
ISBN 0-345-35080-4. KKC]
One of the titles that Lovecraft freely threw around was Necronomicon.
Lovecraft denied that the book existed, and wrote as a joke a paper
titled "A History of the Necronomicon", giving a chronology of the book,
names, and places. Supposedly, the book was written around A.D. 700 by an
arab by the name of Abdul Al-Hazred, and the original title was Al Azif,
which is arabic for the sound made by nocturnal insects. Al-Hazred was
supposedly better known as "the Mad Arab, and the name of the book is
supposedly bastardized greek and latin, which roughly translates into
"The Book of Dead Names" (IE ikon=book, Necro=die or dead, and
Nom=name). Lovecraft told his colleagues that he stole the name "Al
Azif" from another author as a joke, and that the name "Al-Hazred" was a
pun on his mother's maiden name, Hazard. (The history is reproduced in
the Appendix, in part 3 of the FAQ. The archivist is receiving no
monetary gain from the publication of the material in this public
format.)
[(3) Again, from Conover's _Lovecraft at Last_. KKC]
>From this, we can assume the following: In fiction or in fact, the
Necronomicon is a magickal grimiore, or a collection of spells and
experiences from the pen of one person, presumably the man called
Al-Hazred.
Apparently there are those who believe that Lovecraft lied. Several
books are currently in print bearing the title "Necronomicon". But
whether or not Lovecraft invented the concept of the Necronomicon, it
was he who gave it publicity and notoriety.
(2) Where can I get a copy of the Necronomicon?
Well, it depends on what you are looking for. Several books are on the
market now that bear the title Necronomicon:
-
1) The Necronomicon, by Abdul Al-Hazred
Edited by Simon
ISBN 0-380-75192-5
Copyright 1977 by Magickal Childe Publications, New York
1980 by Avon Books, third printing
218 pages, illustrations by Khem Set Rising
Standard mass media (paperback) format
$5.99 in the U.S.
Published by the same people who produced Anton Lavey's _Satanic Bible_,
this book has little or nothing to do with Lovecraft, but a great deal
to do with Sumerian and Assyrian mythology. One-fourth of the book is a
large introduction written by Simon that supposedly relates the history
and the times of the Necronomicon and of Abdul Al-Hazred. The book seems
to be a collection of genuine translations of cuneiform tablets found in
Iraq by archaeologists, with the occasional indecipherable line
deciphered by Simon, invariably with some reference to Cthulhu or
another reference to something vaguely Lovecraftian.
Simon claims that the book was originally written in Greek, and that
this volume is not a complete translation, as parts were "purposely left
out" for the "safety of the reader".
This book is interesting because of its subtlety in some places, and
outright bluntness in others. While Simon attempts in his preface to
form a tenuous link between Lovecraft and Aliester Crowley (who never
met each other, as far as anyone knows), he dedicates the book in part
to a demon named Perdurabo, without telling us who he is. Frater
Perdurabo is a name that Crowley adopted for himself, and is a mystical
motto of sorts. Also, Simon warns against allowing the text to be used
by "novices" in the mystical arts, and the author also states repeatedly
something to the effect of "show these words not to the uninitiated".
However, neither give any definition of what an expert or an initiate
might be. The system of rituals also seems extremely simplistic,
compared to, say, the high-complexity of the Golden Dawn system.
On the up side, the book does contain some "real" information, most
notably the fifty names of Marduk as archetypes, and an abridged version
of the Sumerian creation epic, where Marduk kills Tiamat and creates the
earth from her corpse. Also, the symbols and sigils are complex and
interesting to look at, and form the basis of a "gate walking" ritual
that supposedly takes a full year, and is supposed to raise the user's
conciousness to a higher state. This sort of ritual is common to many
magickal texts. The text also bears a suspicious resemblance to _The
History of Babylon_ by Berosus, which is considerably more credible to
historical authorities.
This book was also made available in hardback leatherbound, with silver
inlay on the cover. The archivist believes that the print run was about
600, and it was made available in an advertisement in Omni magazine in
1989.
1a) The Necronomicon Spellbook, by Simon
ISBN 0-939708-11-6
Copyright 1987 by Magickal Childe Publications
170 pages, paperback
$6.95 in the U.S.
The Gates of the Necronomicon, by Simon
ISBN 0-939708-08-6
$14.95 in the U.S
These two books, essentially repeating the material in the "original"
Simon Necronomicon, are Simon's efforts towards fleshing out the vague
material he originally put forth in 1977.
The Necronomicon Spellbook, originally entitled _Necronomicon Report_,
is a "simplified" guide towards usage of the fifty names of Marduk in
divination and prayer, and contains some interesting insight into the
meanings of the names. It is interesting to note that many systems of
Magick seem to have some diety upon whom many names are conferred;
Egyptian and Greek pantheons come to mind.
The Gates of the Necronomicon is a purported "introduction to the
system," which supposedly takes one step by step through each part of
the gate walking initiation which is described in the Necronomicon.
Supposedly, the ambiguities and unavailability of certain materials
which are needed in the rituals are explained away by Simon. The book is
currently unavailable from Magickal Childe, presumably because they are
working on putting out a second edition. The first edition, which came
out in June of 1992, is still available in limited supply at some occult
shops.
[(4) These two books are rarer by far than their predecessor. The archivist
found the first purely by chance, and has thusfar been unable to find
a decent copy of the second. Short of travelling directly to New York and
visiting the Magickal Childe shop, you will find these two very difficult
to obtain (and if you don't, please do tell us all how you got
them). KKC]
2) The Necronomicon, by Colin Wilson et al.
Edited by George Hay
Copyright 1978 Neville Spearman, London
184 pages, illustrated by Stamp and Turner
With about 150 pages of introduction and essay, and about 40 pages of
Necronomicon, famed skeptic Colin Wilson gives us the most exhaustive
piece of research on how H.P. Lovecraft must have seen the Necronomicon,
and evidence for and against the existence of such a book. Wilson calls
on the research by Robert Turner and David Langford to form a
Necronomicon that they admit freely was fabricated from the works of
Lovecraft alone, and seemingly without any real historical base.
Notably, Wilson presents a "complete" text on the summoning of
Yog-Sothoth and the passage through the gates, the Ibn Ghazi powder, the
"adjuration" of Cthulhu, and references to Kadath, Leng, and other names
found only in Lovecraft's stories. There is also a poem containing the
famous "not dead which eternal lie" couplet.
In toto, the book contains:
A table of working
The configuration of planetary and astrological stones to form a circle
Four hand signs
Ye Elder Sign
Ye Sigil of Koth
To Compuund Ye Incense of Zkauba
To Make Ye Powder of Ibn Ghazi
Ye Unction of Khephnes Ye Egyptian
To Fashion the Scimitar of Barzai
Ye Alphabet of Nug-Soth
Ye Voice of Hastur
Concerning Nyarlathotep
Of Leng in Ye Cold Waste
Of Kadath Ye Unknown
To Call Forth Yog-Sothoth
To Conjure of Ye Globes
Ye Adjuration of Great Cthulhu
To Summon Shub-Niggurath Ye Black
The Talisman of Yhe
Ye Formula of Dho-Hna
This book is probably most useful to players of the role playing game
"Call of Cthulhu", as it is most faithful to the works of Lovecraft.
[(5) This information owes a great deal to Ashton from the net,
who seems to have no last name, but found and bothered to
read the book. Apologies, I haven't yet found the ISBN number. KKC]
3) Al Azif: The Necronomicon, by Abdul Al-Hazred
Copyright 1973 by Owlswick Press
196 pages
Hardback
This is an interesting book, if for purely aesthetic reasons. It
consists of eight pages of simulated Syrian script, repeated over and
over 24 times, in a spiffy hardback cover. No notes, no value, makes a
great conversation piece.
4) The Necronomicon, by Lyon Sprague DeCamp
Copyright 192x, independently published by the author
or
The Necronomicon, by W.T. Faraday
Copyright 193x, independently published by the author
This is the rarest Necronomicon, as only 350 were published, and very
few survived a century. According to William Conover's book _Lovecraft
at Last_, this text is what prompted Lovecraft to write his "History of
the Necronomicon". The cover boldly proclaims to "reveal the secrets of the
ancients". Copy #227 is supposedly availble at the University of
California at Berkeley.
It is possible that W.T. Faraday is a pseudonym which DeCamp adopted for
the purpose of writing a fake Necronomicon. This is not at all unusual;
Lovecraft's letters have a perrenial mention of some uninspired
librarian asking him where a copy of the Necronomicon could be found,
even though Lovecraft publicly denied that the book existed at all. In
1937, the Branford Review, a Maryland newspaper, published a review of
the Necronomicon, supposedly "translated from the original *Arabic*" by
Faraday.
The archivist has been unable to find this particular Necronomicon.
Lovecraft purported that the book was inspired by his stories, and that
DeCamp and/or Faraday was taking advantage of impressionable and
guillible scholars of the occult.
-
There are also many other books that bear the same title. Modern artist
H.R. Giger, of _Alien_ fame, has produced two books of horror art title
Necronomicon. There is also a gaming newsletter in the northeast called
Necronomicon. There are also many entries in catalogs, library systems,
and cross-references to books with the title Necronomicon, most of which
are pranks or inside jokes. If anyone does find a significant book
titled Necronomicon not in the above list, please e-mail the archivist.
(3) Who is/was Abdul Al-Hazred? Does he exist?
Two theories:
1) Lovecraft?
As stated above, Lovecraft created the name as a family joke. His
mother's maiden name was Hazard, and taking a common name "Abdul",
Lovecraft created the Mad Arab with his scanty knowledge of Arabic
nomenclature. Lovecraft had such inside jokes with many of his fictional
authors. Comte D'Erlette, author of the fictional _Cultes de Goules_,
was a derivative of the name of Lovecraft's biggest fan, August
_Derleth_. Robert Blake, the writer who was possessed and destroyed by
Nylarlathothep in "The Haunter of the Dark," was based on his student
Robert Bloch, the author of _Psycho_.
2) For Real?
Supposedly, Ibn Khallikan was a wandering Arab who ended up in Damascus
after witnessing horrible magical rituals since leaving his home on the
bank of the Euphrates river sometime in the mid 1200's. He took the name
Abdul Al-Azred, which supposedly but erroneously means Servant of God,
He Who Knows the Forbidden (or something to that effect). After writing
down an incomplete synopsis of everything he learned and saw, he
mysteriously vanished, leaving only a thick, 800 page greek text. It is
interesting to note that Lovecraft cites Khallikan in his fictional
_History of the Necronomicon_ as one of Al-Hazred's biographers.
There is evidence against and for both theories, all of which is too
lengthy to include in this already humongous FAQ. But suffice it to say
that the above two theories are the prevalent ones, with other minor
ones floating around.
[(6) Jason and Laurie Brandt from the University of Oregon are the
main contributors to the extremely abridged text above. KKC]
(4) Who or what is Cthulhu?
Cthulhu is the main character of Lovecraft's masterpiece, "The Call of
Cthulhu". Supposedly, in the early days of life on earth, an alien
being came to earth and established rule over whatever sentient life was
inhabiting earth. However, the lives of Cthulhu and his race are
reportedly cyclical, and so at present they are in a hibernation of
sorts.
Cthulhu is chief among these entities. Cthulhoid beings resemble a
humanoid several hundred feet tall, with a head resembling a squid,
claws, and prodigious telepathic capabilities. Supposedly, the cycle is
about to end as the 20th century comes to a close, and Cthulhu has
maintained a cult of humans to help him return and re-establish his
previous rule.
In the Simon Necronomicon, Cthulhu is seen as the great and all-powerful
evil that will invade the world with the rest of his "evil" brethren if
certain gates are left open or carelessly used. Cthulhu is head of the
Ancient Ones, the old gods who were defeated originally by the Elder
Gods, who are supposedly the "good guys".
An interesting side note: Kutu is the name of a city in the Sumerian
underworld, according to the mythology. Lu is a word in Sumerian which
reads as "man", as evidenced by all the Mesopotamian kings whose names
were LuGalxxxxx, meaning "Great Man of xxxxx". So KutuLu means man of
the underworld. Or so claims Simon, the editor of the Magickal Childe
rendering of the Necronomicon.
Those interested should read the netnews.alt.horror.cthulhu FAQ for more
information.
(5) What is a *Necromicon*? Shouldn't it be Necronomicon?
Probably the most frequently asked, see this post from Joshua Geller:
-----
From: joshua@coombs.anu.edu.au (Joshua Geller)
Subject: Re: Necronomicon FAQ
Date: 23 Oct 92 10:11:39 GMT
oh shit.
due to the fact that I'm at home at 1200 baud and my editor sometimes
skips characters under these conditions, this group was created as
'alt.necromicon' rather than 'alt.necronomicon'.
I am now going to rmgroup it and newgroup the new one.
sorry for any inconvenience.
josh
-----
This is the reason for the misspelling. No one has created a new group
with the correct spelling as of yet, due to the low volume of messages
on netnews.alt.necromicon.
(6) Does the Necronomicon really exist?
Reference this question to five years of e-mail and dozens of flamewars.
I respectfully submit instead this post from Thyagi Nagashiva (and
withdraw any official opinion)....
--------------------------------------------------------
9210.16 e.v.
_Liber Grimoiris_
The Parallels of East and West:
Termas, Grimoires and _The Necronomicon_
By Frater I Nigris (666)
(aka Thyagi Nagashiva)
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
The word of Sin is Restriction.
[... text deleted ...]
In the west such texts have sometimes been attributed to God or to a person
who had an experience attributed to God (_The Revelation of St. John_, for
example). In orthodox religion they are called 'revelations'. In heretical
or 'occult' traditions they are called 'grimoires'. More often than not they
are said to be of ancient or mystically powerful origin. As Richard Cavendish
explains in _The Black Arts_, 1967, Putnam:
"...the writers of old grimoires, or magical textbooks, which instruct the
reader in methods of calling up evil spirits, killing people, causing hatred,
and destruction or forcing women to submit to him in love, did not think of
themselves as black magicians. On the contrary, the grimoires are packed
with prayers to God and the angels, fastings and self-mortifications and
ostentatious piety. The principal process in the _Grimoire of Honorius_,
which is usually considered the most diabolical of them all, overflows
with impassioned and perfectly sincere appeals to God and devout sayings
of the Mass. It also involves tearing out the eyes of a black cock and
slaughtering a lamb, and its purpose is to summon up the Devil." p. 3.
--------------------
Cavendish confines his writings about 'grimoires' here to those which
are intended to aid the adept in summoning demonic entities, descriptions
complete with bodily movements and 'barbarous names' of evocation.
It seems that many such texts are in existence, having survived the
ravages of an orthodox fear, yet not all of them concern this subject.
When looking at the origin of grimoires and termas, what is being
cited as their 'source' (e.g. 'Abraham the Jew', the source
of _The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage_; or 'Aiwaz/Aiwass',
the source/channel of _The Book of the Law_) is a certain state of
consciousness. Whether this state of consciousness is in some way
related to any historical or extra-terrestrial figure I leave to the
discernment of the reader.
Given all this, there is no reason why a text could not be referred to ahead
of time by its source, the 'intended' recipient, or a knowledgeable
or intuitive third party. The state of consciousness is there to experience
by those with the courage and ability. The scripture will be received
by the adept in any case, and there is no reason why more than one
copy of said text could not be obtained, though individual minds being what
they are it will most likely be a different 'version'. Perhaps this is the
reason that the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John differ as much
as they do.
_THE NECRONOMICON_
When we then turn to the text referred to as _The Necronomicon_ by
H.P. Lovecraft, we are hard-pressed to render a 'verdict' as to its legitimacy.
If indeed the text preceded Lovecraft, then this does not guarantee that
it has come down to us unedited. If the idea and title were used by Lovecraft
as a result of suggestions from others without an extant text, then perhaps its
'source consciousness' hid the text until a later time. If Lovecraft
fabricated even the IDEA of the tome along with its title, then perhaps he was
simply a 'third party' to a state of consciousness which we may never assess.
The writing of this tome at ANY time after Lovecraft's fabrication, in the
special context of termas and grimoires, does nothing to disprove its value or
its origin. Just because Lovecraft was perceptive enough to imagine such a
text, this does not mean that it did not exist in some fashion (be it within or
WITHOUT the dimension we call 'earth').
The ONLY means of evaluating the various versions of _The Necronomicon_,
therefore, is in comparison with Lovecraft's writings and through personal
experience of the tome in question. Given sufficient qualification and
connection, the adept may then be able to analyze the contents of the version
in question and discern whether it represents a clear reflection of the
source consciousness.
Two points regarding even this method must be understood. First, Lovecraft's
own ideas about the text may have been faulty. Therefore, his description
in his writings regarding the text are questionable. One can only say, given
that one feels a specific version of the text varies from Lovecraft's
description yet represents a valid grimoire, that these two 'Necronomicons'
are different and possibly of different origin.
Second, ALL such evaluations are subjective and therefore deserve the
skepticism of other students. We can not arrive at 'objective knowledge'
about this, and thus no review can be considered absolute in its authority.
Certainly some adepts' opinions may be accepted over others by the
researcher, but even this is a personal preference and cannot constitute the
final word in the matter.
Therefore, regardless of the history or origin of _The Necronomicon_, whether
or not Lovecraft fabricated it or reflected it in some way, all claims that
writings entitled _The Necronomicon_ are useless or based in ignorance
must be taken in context - as personal opinions. Those who pass such
judgements make a claim to adeptship themselves in order to perform
such an evaluative role. Unless we can vouch for the ability and awareness
of those who do the reviewing, it is a mistake to take them too seriously.
The best means of evaluating grimoires and termas is personally, and only
then after taking steps to develop our mind to such an extent that exposure to
their occulted energies will not also expose us to danger or in some way
disclose that for which we are unprepared. Some grimoires, it is said,
can NEVER be prepared for in this way and have powerful effects upon ALL
those with sufficient perception to comprehend their horrible secrets.
In the realms of consciousness, 'time' and the 'transmission of teachings' are
not the simple concepts that many would have us believe. Be warned that
some who 'approve' or 'contest' the validity of a scripture are either
myopic or have political goals - the enslavement of your mind!
[(7) Many thanks for the opinions and the information that
Thyagi has provided. KKC]
------------------------------------------------------
(7) What is the Voynich Manuscript?
The Voynich was first connected to the Necronomicon in Colin Wilson's
short story, "Return of the Lloigor", written in the style of Lovecraft.
In short, the Voynich is an encoded text accompanied by botanical
illustrations and pictures of nudes, all scribbled in some unknown
alphabet by an unknown author, perhaps the unseen Abdul Al-Hazred. It
could be either a magickal grimiore or a gardening guide, because no one
has come up with a definitive crack of the cipher, if it even is a
cipher and not just random scrawling. Those who have access to internet
should check out internet.voynich for more information.
[(8) Thanks to Karl Kluge from CMU. KKC]
(8) Where can I find more information?
Well, there's this nifty bibliography that Laurie Brandt posted several times:
--------
From: JBrandt@AAA.Uoregon.edu (Laurie E. W. Brandt (Pegasus))
Subject: Bib necro
Date: 3 Nov 1992 06:07:53 GMT
Selected Bibliography
Albright, W. F. "The Anatolian Goddes Kubaba" Archive fur Orientforschung,
V(1929).
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------
Also, there are FAQ's on several newsgroups that mention the
Necronomicon and give additional information, including
netnews.alt.horror
netnews.alt.horror.cthulhu
netnews.alt.magick
netnews.alt.satanism
internet.voynich
Also, various authors and magazine articles have been published on the
subject, too numerous to list here. This FAQ along with the rest, should
give you a fairly complete base of information on which to form an
opinion, if any.
APPENDIX
--------
(1)_History of the Necronomicon_, by H.P. Lovecraft, written in 1937
with footnotes and references by Kendrick Kerwin Chua, 1993
Original title _Al-Azif_ -- azif being the word used by the Arabs to
designate that nocturnal sound (made by insects) supposed to be the
howling of daemons.
Composed by Abdul Al-Hazred, a mad poet of Sanaa, in Yemen, who is
said to have flourished during the period of the Ommiade caliphs, circa
700 A.D. He visited the ruins of Babylon and the subterranean secrets of
Memphis and spent ten years alone in the great southern desert of Arabia
- the Roba al Khaliyeh, or "Empty Space" of the ancients and "Dahma" or
"Crimson" desert of the modern Arabs, which is held to be inhabited by
protective evil spirits and monsters of death. Of this desert many
strange and unbelievable marvels are told by those who pretend to have
penetrated it. In his last years, Al-Hazred dwelt in Damascus, where the
Necronomicon (Al Azif) was written, and of his final death or
disappearnce (738 A.D.) many terrible and conflicting things are told.
He is said by Ebn Khallikan (12th century biographer) to have been
siezed by an invisible monster in broad daylight and devoured horribly
before a large number of fright-frozen witnesses. Of his madness many
things are told. He claimed to have seen the fabulous Irem, or City of
Pillars, and to have found beneath the ruins of a certain nameless
desert town the shocking annals and secrets of a race older than
mankind. He was only an indifferent Moslem, worshipping unknown dieties
whom he called Yog-Sothoth and Cthulhu.
[(9) Note already how Lovecraft skirts the fine line between
campy parody and seriousness. In _Lovecraft at Last_, Conover writes
that Lovecraft wrote the history in order to allow people with
any understanding of Arab studies to see through the mock
scholarship. Note also the inconsistencies here with the description
of Al-Hazred in the Simon Necronomicon. Al-Hazred there supposedly
witnessed the horrible rituals at Masshu, a mythical island at the
mouth of the Euphrates upon which Utnapishtim, the Babylonian Noah,
supposedly still resides today. Whereas Lovecraft describes the Crimson
Desert as the place where Al-Hazred witnessed much of what he wrote down.
Note also that in the Simon version, Al-Hazred warns against worshipping
"Iak-Sakkak" and "Kutulu", whereas Lovecrafts claims he did just that.
Note also the improper use of the A.D. prefix until the next paragraph.
KKC ]
In A.D. 950 the Azif, which had gained a considerable though
surreptitious circulation amongst the philosphers of the age, was
secretly translated into Greek by Theodorus Philetas of Constantinople
under the title Necronomicon.
[(10) Another inconsistency. Simon claims that Al-Hazred rendered the
Necronomicon in Greek first, rather than Arabic. KKC]
For a century it impelled certain experimenters to terrible attempts,
when it was suppressed and burnt by the partiarch Michael. After this it
is only heard of furtively, but (1228) Olaus Wormius made a Latin
translation later in the Middle Ages, and the Latin text was printed
twice - once in the 15th century in blackletter (evidently in German)
and once in the 17th (probably Spanish); both editions being without
identifying marks, and located as to time and place by internal
typographic evidence only.
[(11) Interesting to note that Lovecraft does not say outright that
someone in our time had apparently found and identified these
renditions of the book. KKC]
The work, both Latin and Greek, was banned by Pope Gregory IX in 1232,
shortly after its Latin translation, which called attention to it.
[(12) The archivist has thusfar been unable to find Al Azif, Necronomicon,
or anything even remotely similar on any of the forbidden book lists
of the era. But do consider that paper records from the 13th century are
incomplete and unpreserved, to say the least. KKC]
The Arabic original was lost as early as Wormius' time, as indicated by
his prefatory note (there is, however, a vague account of a secret copy
appearing in San Francisco during the present century but later
perishing by fire); and no sight of the Greek copy - which was printed
in Italy between 1500 and 1550 - has been reported since the burning of
a certain Salem man's library in 1692.
[(13) Again, Simon claims to have translated a Greek edition. KKC]
An English translation made by Dr. [John] Dee was never printed, and
exists only in fragments recovered from the original MS.
[(14) An internal Lovecraft inconsistency. In his short story _The Dunwich
Horror_, the old wizard called Whately utilizes a Dee translation of the
Necronomicon in order to produce children for Yog-Sothoth. A complete
listing of John Dee's books reveals none titled Necronomicon. KKC]
Of the Latin texts now existing one (15th century) is known to be in the
British Museum under lock and key, which another (17th century) is in
the Bilbiotheque Nationale at Paris. A 17th century edition is in the
Widener Library at harvard, and in the Library of Miskatonic University
at Arkham; also in the library of the University of Buenos Ayres.
[(15) Other than the Harvard copy, which the archivist knows for sure
does not exist, and the fact that Miskatonic University is totally
fictional, I cannot say with absolute certainty that the other locations
Lovecraft lists do not have some copy of a book they may call the
Necronomicon. Interested parties may contact the archivist to
confirm or deny posession of the book, if they wish. KKC]
Numerous other copies probably exist in secret, and a 15th century one
is persistently rumoured to form part of the collection of a celebrated
American millionaire. A still vaguer rumor credits the preservation of a
16th century Greek text in the Salem family of Pickman; but if it was so
preserved, it vanished with the artist R.U. Pickman , who disappeared
early in 1926. The book is rigidly suppressed by the authorities of most
countries, and by all branches of ornaised ecclesiasticism. Reading
leads to terrible consequences. It was from rumours of this book (of
which relatively few of the general public know) that R.W. Chambers is
said to have derived the idea of his early novel "The King in Yellow".
[(16) Much of the latter part of this paragraph is in fact derived from
Lovecraft's own short stories, most notably _The Picture in the House_,
which featured the sadistic Robert Pickman character. Also, Lovecraft
repeatedly cites Chambers' book as *his* main inspiration. KKC]
(2) An abridged pantheon of the mythos
The format of this section is as follows:
LOVECRAFTIAN NAME, Simon name: Brief description in prose.
CTHULHU, Kutulu: The ancient entity which is currently hibernating on
the ocean floor in the sunken city of R'lyeh (or Urillia). Cthulhu has
supposedly maintained a cult of human beings which will assist him when
he awakens from slumber, in order to reclaim the earth and establish
whatever civilisation existed when Cthulhu first arrived on the earth
eons ago. In the Simon Necronomicon, Kutulu is mentioned in the creation
epic, where other translators have failed.
YOG-SOTHOTH, Iak-Sakkak: A whirling mass of gelatinous spheres,
Yog-Sothoth is the entity who is "keeper of the gate and the key". In
simple terms, evoking his powers allows one to travel great distnaces in
spirit and body. Some believe that his name it derivative of Set or Seth.
AZATHOTH, Azag-Thoth: The blind mad god, Azathoth is supposedly a very
old diety who is essentially nothing but an energy repository. In
Lovecraft's stories, when Azathoth was summoned he grew exponentially in
size and volume until he was sent back to wherever he came from. Simon
claims that his name is derivative of the Egyptian Thoth, and is a lord
of magicians.
NYARLATHOTHEP: An Egyptian god who is supposedly a messenger and an
executioner. Nyarlathothep was supposedly responsible for many of the
demon and devil sightings during the Middle Ages and during the Salem
witch trials. He has no counterpart in the Simon Necronomicon.
Marduk: Head of the Igigi, or "good guy" gods, Marduk was the son of
Enki, and was responsible for defeating the evil ancient gods and
creating the earth and mankind. The story rendered by Simon is
consistent with most translations of the cuneiform tablets by other
authorities. He has no counterpart in Lovecraft.
Tiamat: The Mother goddess, Tiamat was the origin of all the other gods.
She fashioned a copious number of monsters to fight Marduk before she
was dismembered and recycled into what we now call the earth, according
to the Sumerian mythology. She has no counterpart in Lovecraft.
This is all I could think of for right now. If anyone thinks that any
other diety belongs in this short list, please e-mail the archivist.
(3) Miscellaneous useful information.
Magickal Childe Incorporated
35 West 19th Street
New York, NY 10011
Carrollton - Clark Publishers
9122 Rosslyn
Arlington, VA 22209
Avon Books, a division of the Hearst Company
105 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
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